STRIVING FOR MORE: The story of an ALS student with 3 businesses

Marky, 26, is a student of the Alternative Learning Systems (ALS) in Bayanan, Muntinlupa. He also has a total of 10 units for rent in Metro Manila, an online dress store and a pig farm in Batangas.

Marky did not graduate from a four-year course nor is he a high school graduate. The property he used for his rental business was passed on to him from his grandmother when she died. At first he did not know what to do with it until his cousin suggested he can have them rented out.

“Nakikita ko na parang monthly, for the last…four months na…parang may improvement. Bakit may pera na ‘kong ganito…14,000, 10,000,” he said. (I can see that monthly, for the past 4 months, there is improvement with my money. I asked myself, “Why am I earning money amounting to 14,000, 10,000.”)

Even though he earns a lot in his rental business, he strived for more and asked his friend who studied fashion to teach him how the fashion industry works. He learned how to create different clothes and sold them on social media networks.

Financial literacy in the ALS

The ALS is a project of the Department of Education in the Philippines. According to their website (http://www.deped.gov.ph/als), “it is a parallel learning system in the Philippines that provides a practical option to the existing formal instruction. “

The program offers two different choices, the literacy classes (also known as Accreditation and Equivalency) where they are taught subjects such as communication and problem solving, or the livelihood programs where they can take hairdressing or handicraft[1].

In the partnership with the Philippine Transmarine Carriers-Carlos Salinas Jr. (PTC-CSJ) Foundation, the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Inc. (SEDPI) conducted financial literacy trainings to about 400 students of the ALS in Muntinlupa from March 6-9, 2017. Financial literacy is one of the key advocacies of PTC-CSJ that is why they partnered with SEDPI whose main service is to teach personal financial management to the marginalized sector in the country.

Despite being financially successful without formal education, Marky believes that graduating is still important that is why he supported his younger sibling’s college education.

“Dalawa lang kaming magkapatid. ‘Yung kapatid kong isa pinapag-aral ko pa sa San Beda College Alabang. Sabi ko sa kanya, ‘Ako ‘yung kuya mo walang pinag-aralan.’ Sinasabi ko ‘yung totoo. Wala pa ‘kong mapapagmalaki,” he said. (I only have one sibling. I’m paying for his education in San Beda College Alabang. I tell him, ‘I have no education.’ I tell him the truth that I have nothing to be proud of yet.)

Investments

Vince Rapisura, President and CEO of SEDPI, highly recommends everyone to use 20% of one’s monthly income allocated to investments where they can earn more money. It is included on his published book entitled (L)Earning Wealth: Successful Strategies in Money Management.

There are different forms of investment such as stocks, dividends, capital gains, and entrepreneurship.

Using Marky as an example, he invested on real estate or rental properties and establishing his own business. Every time he profits from his rental business, he keeps a percentage of it for future investments such as land and a new business.

Every month he pays loan for a newly acquired land for investment. He is planning to either build a house for their family or another property for rent. In this example, he is using loan for a productive purpose where he can earn more money.

He is currently asking help from a friend who has a soap business so that he can establish his own next month. This will be his fourth business.